NOOOO, it’s almost the end of vacation!!!!
I was awake relatively early. I had a granola bar and started perusing the Sea World app to finalize my plan of attack. It was during this time that I discovered they had changed their opening time since I’d last looked (or maybe I’d had it confused with Busch Gardens) and Sea World was actually going to be opening at 9:00, not 10 like I’d had in my head.
I headed back into the bedroom to gather my outfit for the day and to wake up Nick. We both got ready and I think we were heading out a little after 8:15. It was an uneventful, 10-15 minute drive over to Sea World.
Parking was a bit of a free for all, but eventually we were parked and headed for the entrance. Security and scanning in was quick, and soon enough we were watching the flamingos, waiting for the park to open. I back-tracked to guest services for a paper map while waiting.
At 9:00 with zero fanfare (apparently they don’t play the national anthem anymore) they dropped the rope, and we headed into the park, to our first destination, the new family roller coaster, Penguin Trek. This was…pretty deep into the park, but we found it. And we found that we were required to put my backpack into a pay locker. Lame.
Once my bag was stored, we headed into line. It was basically a walk on to get on Penguin Trek at this point, which was great. This was a fun roller coaster. It’s a family roller coaster, but it has a couple of legitimate launches. Definitely more intense than Slinky Dog over at Hollywood Studios.
When the ride ended, we got to see the penguins. They had several different viewing areas. Some were glassed in, which was nice because it was warmer. Some were totally open, so we got to experience 32 degree air in shorts. And we narrowly escaped being splashed by swimming penguins.
Once we’d gotten our fill of penguin viewing, we retrieved my bag, and headed to Pacific Point to view the sea lions. They were very vocal this morning!
By now it was time for second breakfast for me and coffee for Nick. This took us…all around the park…before we finally ended up at…Sea World’s version of Starbucks. They were the only ones we could find serving breakfast. Lame. Nick got some sort of cold brew thing and we split a cronut, which, sorry Disney, was far superior to the Epcot cronut. But did not come close to our local donut shop’s cronuts.
When the dolphin “presentation” ended, we headed deeper into the park. This took us first to Shark Encounter. Always fun to ride the moving walkway through the shark tunnel.
As we continued deeper into the park, Nick saw that Mako was posted as a 10 minute wait, so he left his hat with me and headed for the entrance. The wait ended up being more like 20 minutes because apparently the loading area was kind of a free for all and rows were going out just partially filled, but he got on the coaster eventually and enjoyed it.
After Nick had survived Mako, we headed straight for Orca Stadium for the 12:00 orca presentation. We got good seats and got to watch one of the orcas watching everyone file into the stadium before the show. The show…I mean…presentation…was high energy and fun, and I liked that they were using some of the music from, I think it was One Ocean…a show from quite awhile ago. That music is just awesome.
Orcas seen, it was time for a bit of food. It was once again the Seven Seas Food Festival, and while we could easily spend days eating our way through this festival, we prioritized the Brazil booth. Here we got the guava mint caipirinha (that was suspiciously lacking in mint), the picanha beef and the sazon chicken. The beverage and the chicken were the standouts here…so much so that we got a couple different varieties of sazon seasoning when we got home.
Having completed our tour of the shows we wanted to see, we set off for some animal watching. Our first stop was the manatee and turtle rescue area. This has a great indoor underwater viewing area. There were very few people here, so we sat on a bench watching the turtles for quite awhile. We both agreed that if we had a spot like this (or the Georgia Aquarium) close to home, we would have season passes. The New England Aquarium in Boston doesn’t cut it…even when you factor out the major detail that it’s…in Boston.
Our next stop was dolphin viewing. There were numerous dolphin encounters happening at this pool, so it honestly wasn’t the most exciting time to be watching. But, it was still enjoyable.
Then we hiked across the park, because I thought that Wild Arctic was still semi open while they’re working on the new attraction, but, that was not the case. While on this side of the park, we debated whether there was anything else we wanted to eat or do, and we both decided we were ready to head back to the resort. So, we headed for the exit. As we passed by Pipeline, the standing coaster that was being built when we were here two years ago, Nick decided that the posted 10 minute wait was short enough, and he went to ride. I was able to hang in the shade with a view of the load zone, which allowed for some pictures.
Nick said this one was a very weird sensation. He also said that he’d seen someone lift their legs up to be basically suspended by the ride harness, so he had tried this at one point and…”it’s a good thing we’re not having kids”. Got it.
After this, we really did leave the park, stopping for the requisite Sea World icon picture as we headed for the car.
It was an easy drive back to the resort, where we chilled for a bit before dinner. When we were ready to eat, we headed over to the pool bar at the main pool. We got the last two seats at the bar, and thoroughly enjoyed our meal. We both had bucket drinks…I don’t remember what either one of us got, but they were fruity, tasty, and fairly strong. Nick got the garlic chicken flatbread and I got loaded tots. Our food was excellent. The service was great. And the prices honestly were fair. If you stay at Hilton Grand Vacation Club Tuscany Village, have a beverage and/or a meal at the pool bar. It’s worth it.
After dinner we chilled in the room, I started doing some repacking of my packing cubes, and I called it an early night.
Food consumed, we headed over to Dolphin Stadium to catch the 10:30 dolphin presentation. This was fun, upbeat/high energy, and Nick and I also laughed watching all the field trip kids in the soak zone end up with drenched school uniforms. No way is that comfortable!
When the dolphin “presentation” ended, we headed deeper into the park. This took us first to Shark Encounter. Always fun to ride the moving walkway through the shark tunnel.
As we continued deeper into the park, Nick saw that Mako was posted as a 10 minute wait, so he left his hat with me and headed for the entrance. The wait ended up being more like 20 minutes because apparently the loading area was kind of a free for all and rows were going out just partially filled, but he got on the coaster eventually and enjoyed it.
After Nick had survived Mako, we headed straight for Orca Stadium for the 12:00 orca presentation. We got good seats and got to watch one of the orcas watching everyone file into the stadium before the show. The show…I mean…presentation…was high energy and fun, and I liked that they were using some of the music from, I think it was One Ocean…a show from quite awhile ago. That music is just awesome.
Orcas seen, it was time for a bit of food. It was once again the Seven Seas Food Festival, and while we could easily spend days eating our way through this festival, we prioritized the Brazil booth. Here we got the guava mint caipirinha (that was suspiciously lacking in mint), the picanha beef and the sazon chicken. The beverage and the chicken were the standouts here…so much so that we got a couple different varieties of sazon seasoning when we got home.
Having completed our tour of the shows we wanted to see, we set off for some animal watching. Our first stop was the manatee and turtle rescue area. This has a great indoor underwater viewing area. There were very few people here, so we sat on a bench watching the turtles for quite awhile. We both agreed that if we had a spot like this (or the Georgia Aquarium) close to home, we would have season passes. The New England Aquarium in Boston doesn’t cut it…even when you factor out the major detail that it’s…in Boston.
Our next stop was dolphin viewing. There were numerous dolphin encounters happening at this pool, so it honestly wasn’t the most exciting time to be watching. But, it was still enjoyable.
Then we hiked across the park, because I thought that Wild Arctic was still semi open while they’re working on the new attraction, but, that was not the case. While on this side of the park, we debated whether there was anything else we wanted to eat or do, and we both decided we were ready to head back to the resort. So, we headed for the exit. As we passed by Pipeline, the standing coaster that was being built when we were here two years ago, Nick decided that the posted 10 minute wait was short enough, and he went to ride. I was able to hang in the shade with a view of the load zone, which allowed for some pictures.
Nick said this one was a very weird sensation. He also said that he’d seen someone lift their legs up to be basically suspended by the ride harness, so he had tried this at one point and…”it’s a good thing we’re not having kids”. Got it.
After this, we really did leave the park, stopping for the requisite Sea World icon picture as we headed for the car.
It was an easy drive back to the resort, where we chilled for a bit before dinner. When we were ready to eat, we headed over to the pool bar at the main pool. We got the last two seats at the bar, and thoroughly enjoyed our meal. We both had bucket drinks…I don’t remember what either one of us got, but they were fruity, tasty, and fairly strong. Nick got the garlic chicken flatbread and I got loaded tots. Our food was excellent. The service was great. And the prices honestly were fair. If you stay at Hilton Grand Vacation Club Tuscany Village, have a beverage and/or a meal at the pool bar. It’s worth it.
After dinner we chilled in the room, I started doing some repacking of my packing cubes, and I called it an early night.
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